---
name: "ps2frag"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "texlive-doc"
version: "2026.1-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/ps2frag"
---

# ps2frag(1)

obsolete shell script for the PSfrag system.

## NAME

ps2frag - obsolete shell script for the PSfrag system.

## IMPORTANT NOTICE

The new PSfrag system no longer requires the ps2frag script; instead, it handles the processing entirely within TeX/LaTeX and DVIPS. I'm sure you will agree that never needing to run ps2frag again is a nice convenience!

However, there are two significant differences in the way this new version of PSfrag works. Please make yourself aware of them:

1\) XDvi is no longer able to determine where your PSfrag replacements should go, so instead it lines them up in a vertical list to the left of the  figure. This allows you to confirm that they have been typeset properly, at least. However, to confirm that PSfrag **positions** your replacements properly, you will have to view the PostScript version of your file with a viewer like GhostView, or print it out.  This seems to be the only disadvantage to the elimination of the pre-processing step.

2\) If you embed '\\tex' commands inside your figures, you now need to  explicitly \_tell\_ PSfrag to process these commands. To do so, use \\usepackage\[scanall\]{psfrag} instead of \\usepackage{psfrag} at the beginning of your LaTeX file.

If you only use '\\tex' commands in a small number of figures, then a  more efficient might be to turn on '\\tex'-scanning only for those figures. To do that, add the command '\\psfragscanon' immediately before  each relevant \\includegraphics or \\epsfbox command.

## NOTES

See the PSfrag documentation for further information.

## SEE ALSO

[dvips(1)](/dvips/1.md), [gs(1)](/gs/1.md), ghostview(1), [latex(1)](/latex/1.md)

## AUTHORS

- psfrag@rascals.stanford.edu

  The PSfrag maintainer's mailing list.